Not TOTALLY destroyed, but some guy slammed on his brakes in front of me, causing me to slam on my brakes, causing the cake to slide, even with the center dowel. (The bottom tier of a 4 tier cake was ruined. The top layer of the tier slide about an inch. Post-delivery triage indicated too much filling combined with the brake slamming.)

I would have had no idea how to salvage the cake except for the generousity of CCers sharing their disaster stories. With that info filed away, I removed the top 3 tiers and displayed a 3-tier cake. The bottom tier was servable, just not showable, so we cut it in the kitchen. God must have been with me that day because I had an extra cardboard that I could use as a base to hold the 3 tier cake. (whew!)

I gave the bride a $200 refund (the value of the bottom tier), but my staff did a great catering job and the family gave them a $200 tip.